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03/31/2015 11:02:52 PM · #1
I took these on my hike on Sunday. I am thinking of entering one in a local wildflower photo contest. Have any thoughts on ways to improve them? A suggestion on which one to submit?

03/31/2015 11:05:24 PM · #2
Keep in mind that I am not a lover of floral photos. Maybe that means more, maybe less.

I prefer this one:


However, I think the editing style may be a little hard-edged for the subject. Some softening perhaps? If youy have NIK Color EFEX I would suggest applying some of the glamor glow treatment to it.
03/31/2015 11:08:02 PM · #3
Is the contest for best "artistic" or "identification" value?

My initial impression favors the first image; in the other two the bright/stark leaves compete with the delicate coloration of the flowers themselves.
03/31/2015 11:16:40 PM · #4
Originally posted by GeneralE:

Is the contest for best "artistic" or "identification" value?

My initial impression favors the first image; in the other two the bright/stark leaves compete with the delicate coloration of the flowers themselves.


Great question. Here is the quote from the announcement of the contest:

The Larry Depee Memorial Award is named for a photographer whose wildflower photos were frequently on display at the show, Bennett said. Depee and his wife Betty were especially known for their orchid photographs.

Larry Depee died last week, Bennett said. His wife and his friends created the award in his name.

“(Depee) and his wife, Betty, had explored all over the county trying to find orchids,” Bennett said. “He understood possibly around 24 orchids in our county and he and Betty had taken pictures of about 17 or 18 of them. We display them every year because you can’t pick them.”

I'm guessing that artistic with "realism" vs abstract will probably do best.
03/31/2015 11:26:39 PM · #5
I'm going to be blunt and say that I'm not a fan of any of them. Mainly, I like very clean in flower photos, and none of these are clean.

All of them have a lot of noise in the background. This may be due to editing. You should definitely clean this up if you want the power part to pop.
The first has part of the main flower out of focus.
The second and the third have some really heavy shadowing, similar to on camera flash. This makes them look flat. There is no pop from the background.

The first seems to have the most potential. You can do some nice things with those new buds in the background.

This is my opinion :)

FYI, this person is a flickr contact of mine. I find his flower photos to be some of the most engaging I have seen.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/takayuki_tanaka/
04/01/2015 01:05:50 AM · #6
Originally posted by giantmike:

I'm going to be blunt and say that I'm not a fan of any of them. Mainly, I like very clean in flower photos, and none of these are clean.

All of them have a lot of noise in the background. This may be due to editing. You should definitely clean this up if you want the power part to pop.
The first has part of the main flower out of focus.
The second and the third have some really heavy shadowing, similar to on camera flash. This makes them look flat. There is no pop from the background.

The first seems to have the most potential. You can do some nice things with those new buds in the background.

This is my opinion :)

FYI, this person is a flickr contact of mine. I find his flower photos to be some of the most engaging I have seen.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/takayuki_tanaka/


I appreciate your honesty Mike. I agree with your assessment too. I am really looking forward to my new camera (Cannon 70D) arriving tomorrow, so it may make sense to go and reshoot these next weekend. I'm working on my post processing skills, they seem to be very slow in improving. What is that rule of thumb? It takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a high level skill?
04/01/2015 01:38:46 AM · #7
I agree with Mike about you needing more subject isolation, which is going to be a bit of a struggle given your lens selection. The body will help with the noise, but the isolation isn't going to be easy short of doing it in post processing. I like the first shot, but getting it to be more of the shot may be difficult given your setup. The other subject is larger and may be easier to accomplish this with. Do you have any lighting equipment other than on camera? What about a tripod and what is your processing software?

Message edited by author 2015-04-01 01:39:19.
04/01/2015 01:48:15 AM · #8
Lots of tips on this digital photo site. This info on depth of field really makes a difference in isolating and making your blooms pop.

//digital-photography-school.com/depth-of-field-in-floral-photography/
04/01/2015 10:46:51 AM · #9
In terms of flower, I find the white one osre interesting.

However, I agree that none of these is "contest material". It is not just a matter of processing. The framing seems haphazard (i.e., the 3rd one cuts out half a leaf. It seems it should be included, or all the others should also be cropped). But more impotantly, they're too documentarian. That white flower appears to have nearly transparent petals. Maybe find a way to highlight that feature. And if possible, avoid using your onboard flash...
04/01/2015 10:54:43 AM · #10


I would like this photo with a square crop and not cropping off the tip of the leaf. A little less clarity and a little softer lighting would be good. If you can't get the depth of field you want to isolate the subject from your background, then doing it in post would work, if it is allowed in the contest rules.
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